


We could form an attachment (or not)

by heartsocold



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28864287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsocold/pseuds/heartsocold
Summary: Arthur asks Merlin to be his pretend boyfriend - only, Merlin doesn't realize it's pretend.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 248





	We could form an attachment (or not)

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thank you to Sky for the title <3

“Merlin!” Arthur calls, letting himself into his best friend’s tiny apartment. “I’ve brought take-out!”

“Please tell me it’s pizza,” Merlin begs as he comes out of his bedroom, tugging a shirt over his head.

“Of course it is,” Arthur grins brightly, dropping the box onto the island that separates the kitchen and the living room. He toes off his shoes and hangs his coat on the hanger before he makes himself comfortable on one of the stools.

“Fuck yes,” Merlin cheers, grabbing a slice of the pepperoni pizza and taking a bite. A second later, he drops the slice back into the box and opens his mouth, huffing large breaths of air. “Hot! Hot! Hot!”

Arthur laughs at him but opens the two-litre Sprite that came with the meal and pours them two glasses. “That’s what you get for being an uncultured heathen,” He chastises, slipping his slice onto a paper plate.

Merlin glares at him, finally swallowing his bite. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

Arthur raises an eyebrow, a smirk on his lips. “Doesn’t it?”

Merlin scoffs and shakes his head but he doesn’t respond, instead choosing to take a sip of his soft drink.

It’s only when Merlin’s finished with his first slice and moves to grab another that he realizes Arthur hasn’t actually taken a bite of his yet. He looks up to see Arthur’s head propped on one hand, his gaze on his other as he rubs his thumb and forefinger together, seemingly lost in thought.

“What is it?” Merlin asks tentatively and Arthur jerks.

“What?”

“Something’s bothering you, what is it?”

“I-” Arthur begins but then frowns, shaking his head. He sighs deeply and then visibly straightens up, pulling his shoulders back. “I need you to go somewhere with me, as my date.”

Merlin blinks. It’s not a secret that he has feelings for his best friend. Quite literally everyone knows except for Arthur. It’s about time that he caught on.

“Okay,” He agrees easily, a little surprised at how anticlimactic this is. He’s happy – ecstatic even – but it’s not as big of a deal as he thought it would be. He supposes it’s because of how close he and Arthur are. More often than not people tend to assume they’re a couple because of the way they are with each other so really, it’s not like much will change.

They’ll still have dinner together almost every night and go out to movies or the park or wherever else they feel like. They’ll still fall asleep curled up on the couch together and go grocery shopping with each other. He supposes now there will be the added bonus of kissing and hand holding. And sex. He hopes there’ll be tons and tons of sex.

Arthur looks pleasantly surprised, as though he was expecting a different answer, which is a bit ridiculous. As if Merlin would ever say no.

“Okay?”

Merlin shrugs, a smile tugging on his lips. “Yes, I’ll be your date. What did you have in mind?”

Arthur beams. He rolls his eyes and takes a bite of his pizza slice. “Morgana wants us to have dinner at Albion on Friday with her and Gwen and then there’s my father’s birthday dinner on Saturday. I’m so glad you said yes, God knows who he’s planning to match me with this year. And at least now Morgana will stop hounding me about being single. What’s with my family’s obsession with my love life?”

“Ah, yes. The woes of being a rich, posh git. Dating truly must be a feat for you.”

Arthur breaks off piece of his crust and tosses it at Merlin. It hits him right in the middle of his forehead before falling onto the counter in front him. “I am not posh!”

“So you agree that you’re a git then?” Merlin clarifies seriously.

“It goes without me saying that I have never been nor will I ever be a git,” Arthur glares.

Merlin winces, pursing his lips in thought. “Eh.”

“Asshole.”

“Now, is that any way to talk to your new boyfriend? It’s really no wonder you were single for so long,” Merlin continues in a disappointed voice, clucking his tongue in disapproval.

“You’re going to make me regret this, I know it,” Arthur sighs, hanging his head mournfully and Merlin laughs – loud and free and happy.

-

“So, Merlin,” Morgana begins over dinner, her red lips twisted in the patent Pendragon smirk as her dark eyes assess he and Arthur. “It’s about time my brother got his head out of his arse and asked you out.”

“I’d say so,” Merlin nods, pressing his hand over Arthur’s when he pinches his thigh in retribution.

“So, how did it happen?” Gwen asks eagerly. “Come on now, we’ve been waiting forever for this to happen, don’t be shy with the details.”

“Uh,” Arthur’s eyes look warily between Morgana and Gwen. “I just asked him.”

Morgana shakes her head at him and Gwen tsks loudly. “Merlin, help a girl out here, would you? Surely it was more than that.”

Merlin tilts his head to the side, a fond smile donning his features as he recalls the moment. “Not really. He literally just said he wanted me to go out with him as his date and that was that.”

“Arthur!” Morgana exclaims, her mouth dropping in shock. “I’m appalled! How could you?”

“What? What’s wrong with that?” Arthur looks absolutely bewildered and Merlin breathes a laugh.

“Nothing, love. It was perfect. I mean think about it, we’ve always been close right? Like closer than normal friends so it wasn’t that big of a deal to move our relationship into something more. It just felt natural,” Merlin explains with a shrug and Arthur smiles at him gratefully.

“Yes, exactly. I mean, can you even imagine me trying to woo Merlin? He’d never let me live it down!”

Morgana and Gwen exchange a look but they don’t look like Arthur wrecked all their plans anymore so it’s okay.

“Does this mean Merlin’ll be joining us for Uther’s birthday dinner?”

“Of course,” Arthur says breezily as though it was obvious. “Someone needs to ward off those vultures.”

Merlin narrows his eyes, gently shoving at Arthur’s shoulder. “Just for that, I should make you go alone.”

Arthur grins, knowing damn well it’s an empty threat and so Merlin swipes a forkful of the brownie and ice cream combo Arthur ordered for dessert.

“No, Arthur. I’m full, I can’t possibly eat any dessert,” Arthur mocks in a terrible impression of Merlin, rolling his eyes when Merlin goes back for seconds.

“Yes, well. Thank God for your sweet tooth because this is fucking heavenly and I’m going to finish it,” Merlin informs him, pulling the platter away from Arthur and in front of him.

Arthur chuckles, shaking his head affectionately, eyes alight with mirth. “Of course you are. I’d expect nothing less.”

“Huh,” Morgana hums, reminding them that they weren’t alone. They turn to see her looking at them thoughtfully.

“What is it now?” Arthur groans.

“Oh shut it, you big baby. I just noticed what Merlin said earlier. You two really did blur the lines with your friendship, didn’t you?”

“I suppose?” Arthur looks at her like she’s officially lost it so she kicks his shin under the table and then they’re bickering again.

-

“Relax,” Arthur says soothingly, brushing Merlin’s shoulder with his as they stand in the foyer of the Pendragon residence. “Stop fidgeting, it’s fine.”

“Your father’s scary and he hates me,” Merlin counters, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers.

Arthur snorts. “Merlin, he does not hate you.”

“Fine, greatly dislikes then.”

“My father greatly dislikes everyone, I assure you, you’re not special,” Arthur comforts, squeezing Merlin’s shoulder gently.

“Wow, you sure do know how to make a guy feel special,” Merlin grouches but leans into the touch nonetheless.

“Hey, it’s okay. You did a marvellous job at fooling Morgana and she knows me better than Uther does. This will be easy, I promise.”

Merlin frowns. “What do you mean fooling? When did I fool her?”

Arthur looks at him with furrowed brows. “I mean, she really does think we’re a couple.”

“Aren’t we?” Merlin squeaks, confusion and panic waring inside him.

“No,” Arthur says slowly.

“But-but you asked me out!” Merlin accused, his voice sounding high pitch as he grew hysterical. Did he hallucinate the entire thing?

“What?” Arthur looks genuinely taken aback, like the thought didn’t even cross his mind and Merlin feels his heart plummet into his stomach. Arthur runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck, I should’ve known something was up when you agreed so easily. Fuck, shit. God, Merlin, I’m so sorry. I was asking you to show up as my date so Morgana and my father would get off my back about being single and they’d stop trying to play matchmaker. I thought you knew that.”

And now that he thinks about it, Arthur really did mention that, didn’t he? Why had Merlin assumed that Arthur returned his feelings? Why was he so eager to say yes? Arthur hadn’t explicitly say he liked him nor did he ask Merlin to be his boyfriend. He had asked him to accompany him as his date and Merlin had taken that for something it wasn’t.

“Merlin?” Arthur’s voice breaks through his thoughts. It sounds mournful and Arthur’s looking at him sadly, his face contrite and Merlin’s eyes cloud over with tears.

“I have to go,” He mutters, trying valiantly to swallow the sob that’s inching it’s way up his throat.

“Merlin, I’m sorry,” Arthur says again, trying to grab onto his arm but he slips away tactfully.

“It’s not your fault, really. Just tell everyone I’m not feeling well, yeah? Sorry,” He sends Arthur a watery smile and walks out of the house, his heart breaking.

-

He’s been home for maybe ten minutes - he’s spent the entire ten minutes curled up on his bed, sobbing his heart out – when there’s a relentless pounding on the door.

“Merlin! Merlin, come on! Open the door, please,” Arthur begs and Merlin closes his eyes, pressing his face even further into his pillow. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone right now, much less Arthur.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow he’ll suck it up and they’ll talk about it and turn it into a joke and everything will be alright. Right now, though?

Right now, he can’t laugh about it because it’s not funny. He’s hurting too much to make light of the situation. Arthur needs to go away so he can lick his wounds in peace.

The banging stops and Merlin breathes a shuddering breath in release until he remembers Arthur has a key to his apartment. Shit.

“Merlin,” Sure enough, Arthur’s soft voice floats over to him and he knows without looking that Arthur’s standing in the doorway of his bedroom. A whimper tears its way out of his throat but he refuses to turn around. Refuses to acknowledge the situation. He knows it’s wishful thinking but he desperately hopes that if he ignores him long enough, Arthur will go away.

Of course, he most definitely does not go away. No. What he does is crawl behind Merlin on the bed and wrap his entire body around him, securing him tightly in his arms. He presses his face into the groove between Merlin’s neck and shoulder and begins to rock them soothingly which makes Merlin cry harder.

“Shh, please don’t cry, Merlin. Please, it’s okay, I promise. Calm down, baby, you’ll make yourself sick,” He consoles and Merlin shakes his head.

“I can’t, I can’t, I’m sorry,” Merlin cries and Arthur’s hand comes up to wipe away the tears that keep falling relentlessly. He presses a kiss to Merlin’s jawline then his cheek, then his temple and his hair and it’s so sweet that it causes Merlin physical pain.

“Please,” Merlin pleads. “You have to go, please.”

Arthur shakes his head, his own throat clogging and eyes prickling at how hurt Merlin is.

“Merlin, I need you to listen to me, okay? Let me say this and then I’ll go if you still want me to,” He implores and Merlin takes a shaky breath before he pushes Arthur away. He forces himself to calm down the slightest bit then sits up against the headboard, pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around himself. He nods for Arthur to say his piece.

“I fucked up, okay? I fucked up and I hurt you and I’m so sorry, you’ll never know. I didn’t know,” Arthur admits mournfully. “I didn’t know you had feelings for me. I thought I was just your best mate and I thought that’s all I’d ever be. I didn’t realize that I had a chance, I really didn’t. I never would’ve asked you to pretend if I did.”

“What?” Merlin gasps out, his mind reeling as he tries to figure out what Arthur was trying to say.

Arthur smiles sadly, reaching out to hold Merlin’s hands in his. “If I knew that I had a chance, I would’ve asked you to be my boyfriend, for real. I didn’t though so I asked you to pretend and I thought you knew that was what I was asking. I never in a million years thought you would think otherwise because I didn’t think it – us, was possible. I should’ve been more specific, I’m sorry.”

“You like me?” Merlin asks simply, blinking at Arthur as hope surges up in his chest.

“No,” Arthur smiles, shaking his head. “I love you. I have for a long time.”

Merlin closes his eyes, letting the words wash over him. He takes a deep breath to steady himself then opens his eyes, staring straight into Arthur’s. “Say it again.”

“I love you,” Arthur lifts their joined hands to his lips, pressing a kiss on each one. “I love you so much and I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“I love you too,” Merlin whispers, sniffling. His eyes spill over again and Arthur leans forward to kiss the tears away.

He pulls back slightly, resting his forehead against Merlin’s and bumping their noses so that they’re breathing the same air. “May I?”

Merlin nods and Arthur leans forward, capturing Merlin’s lower lip in his and kisses him – pouring as much love and apologies as he can into the kiss. They break apart for air and he presses a kiss to the corner of Merlin’s mouth before diving back in. Merlin lets go of his hands to wrap his arms around his neck, pulling him even closer.

When they’re done, he tucks his face into the crook of Arthur’s neck and holds him tightly, Arthur returning the embrace.

Eventually, Merlin’s brain catches up with the situation and his lips twitch, his entire body shaking with silent laughter.

“Merlin, please stop crying,” Arthur begs. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not crying,” Merlin promises, pulling back to look at his boyfriend and laughing openly at the bewildered expression on his face. “God, you’re so stupid.”

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re a fucking idiot. Everyone, literally _everyone_ ,” Merlin stresses. “Knows I’ve been in love with you for years. I thought you didn’t make a big deal out of asking me out because you’d finally caught on and now you tell me you had no clue. Stupid.”

Arthur flushes, his expression growing sheepish as he grumbles. “Shut up. You could’ve said something, would have saved us a lot of time and tears. I really am sorry, though.”

Merlin shakes his head, smiling contently as he snuggles into Arthur’s arms. “It’s already forgiven. Got us here, didn’t it?”

“But, if I had just been specific-”

“I would have agreed to fake date you regardless and then we’d never have known,” Merlin supplies. “It’s alright, Arthur. Things worked themselves out and now we’re good. Stop stressing over it, it’s in the past.”

Arthur looks as though he wants to argue some more so Merlin kisses him again then sinks down into the bed, pulling Arthur with him. “Now, I’m exhausted so we’re going to sleep and then tomorrow you can take me out for our first official date. That sound good to you?”

Arthur kisses his forehead, shifting so that he’s spooning Merlin. “It sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Is this trope overused? Yes. Do I care? No.  
> Hope y'all liked this one!


End file.
